Wicked Ace Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 cheers haterist! This is great info really appreciate the effort. 340271[/snapback] Yeah, the pics are definitely appreciated. Quote
do not disturb Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 godzilla, yes i got the heatshield, you have to take it on and off but it works. i looked over to see if there was some way the cap'n could've made it retractable but its impossible. the resin is pretty sturdy, kind of like rohby super stiff BP8 recast. just be careful removing each piece from its sprune otherise you might break something off that you can't fix or glue back on. as far as time, i put maybe 2-3 hours into it, if even that and that includes disassembling and reassembling the valk. actually i spent a bulk of the time making sure all the pieces fit and that it TFs without any problems than anything else. the parts are fairly clean, some parts/spots are tougher to get to than others but i have very little skill and i was able to knock it out without any real problems. i have some more pictures(and important info) i want to share but i gotta work a little before i get in trouble with the bossman. Quote
do not disturb Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 heres one real quick.... for those who haven't picked up this conversion kit.....you're missing out. Quote
kensei Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 That's ultra nice Haterist. Can't wait till the final painted product. Keep up the good work. You have done awfully well to get it together so quickly after recieval. Quote
do not disturb Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 heres some more pics. battroid w/FPs gerwalk w/FPs fighter w/FPs fighter non FPs fighter top Quote
Sephiroth Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 Awesome pics! I can't wait to get mine! Quote
captain america Posted October 28, 2005 Author Posted October 28, 2005 Wow Gene, you're fast!! Got your 1D built-up before I did I'm prepping my parts as we speak, and I should have the instructions all done by wednesday. Quote
do not disturb Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 so the only thing i don't like about this kit is the floppy head. its floppy in battroid, floppy in fighter, its just plain floppy. theres not much you can do to remedy this other than maybe some clear nail polish? or an entirely new design of the head which isn't very likely to happen. in battroid mode, the head just sits there, it doesn't lock into place like the other 1/48s. it moves freely and it sits back tilted on an angle so its always looking up which was kind of bummer. i had to put the neck doo-hickie piece that comes with the FP kit to level it off and keep the head straight but it still doesn't lock into place. i'll probably have it displayed in fighter mode w/o FPs or battroid with the FPs, so it won't bother me too much. honestly, the head issue is my only real gripe with this set but looking at how it had to be made, there was not much cap'n could do about it....its unfortunate but some sacrifices had to be made for the cause. some additional tips on top of all the other crap i posted: head laser pieces - whatever you do, make sure you don't sand the pegs down too much. theres pegs that go into the neck piece(you'll have to drill a hole for the pegs) when its assembled. i made the mistake of cutting them a little short and that could be the reason for the floppy head problem. i'm probably going to buy a replacement part from cap'n cause this was entirely my screw up. i just hope that fixes this problem. the neck attachment piece - this would be the resin part that you put the screw threw into the head. he shaved a little off it(you gotta see it to know what i'm talking about) but it needs to be sanded down a lot more. you'll also have to sand down some of the neck swivel piece(the black thing attached to the bottom of the head thats swivels and spins) quite a bit. you'll have to do this if you want the fuselage to stay in place correctly otherwise it pushes the entire fuselage up a couple of centimeters and actually splits the fuselage at the seams....you'll see what i'm talking about when you try to assemble it. the most important tip i can give you guys.... DO NOT GLUE ANYTHING UNTIL YOU ARE 100% SURE EVERYTHING FITS PROPERLY. as you can see i used funtac and scotch tape to hold pieces together. even at this point, i'm 99.99% done and sure everything works but i still don't want to glue anything down as of yet. as they say, its better to be safe than sorry. closing: i thought this was going to be a big ol pain in the butt(i was even going to comission someone to do it) but it really wasn't too bad. before this, my only experience with resin was rohbys TV hands and S head which obviously didn't require much work. as i said the bulk of my time was spent trying to make sure everything fit properly and TFed smoothly. i don't know what else to add other than, this kit ROCKS! if you haven't gotten it yet, you're really missing out IMHO. and a very special thanks to the cap'n for making this happen. if anyone has anything they want to ask/add, i'll try my best to help. Quote
Mechamaniac Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 (edited) DAMN that thing looks great! WTF - How did Haterist get his in Tuesday, and he's in NY, 4 hours away from me, and mine hasn't arrived yet. FU USPS!! Edited October 28, 2005 by Mechamaniac Quote
rnurmin Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 Haterist: Nice job. Can't wait to see the you finished painting the whole Valk. Quote
DatterBoy Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 Just curious if anyone recieved the non colored version and has it built out. Curious to see if anyone has built one out and what the tint looks like compared to the rest of the valk. I don't think I'll ever paint so I'd like to see what mine will look like. :Dat Quote
fulcy Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 well, I can tell you I got the non-colored one, the only thing is that it's not tinted at all, it's white... Quote
captain america Posted October 28, 2005 Author Posted October 28, 2005 Hi Datterboy. The Vanilla kits are really quite... Vanilla! Natural resin color, which is a slightly translucent white. Color-matching the Valks would have been possible with a neutral (clear or amber) resin, but since this stuff is already white from the get-go, that would mean adding an absolutely-strict amount of pigment per casting, which is near impossible for such a small mixing quantity. Heck, the Battroid head lenses were the worst: you could take 2 dabs of green paste which look absolutely identical, and one would give the resin just the right tint of green, while the other would turn the stuff pure opaque green; that's how potent the pigments are Quote
do not disturb Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 (edited) if the vanilla set i bought matched the valk color, i would've used that so i wouldn't have to paint it at all. i suck at painting and i would've had to do it by hand, i ain't got no air brush. Edited October 28, 2005 by haterist Quote
promethuem5 Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 I got my kit today too, also in NY It looks awesome, but mine won't be done for a while as I don't have a valk for it right now. Parts look pretty clean, but mine's got some under the surface bubbles that'll have to be sanded and spackled, meaning it'll have to be painted completley no matter what. Not sure how these got in there, as they stick out of the surface of the resin, which seems odd if the resin had been flush with the mold... oh well. Nice work all around. Quote
Mechamaniac Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 Just curious if anyone recieved the non colored version and has it built out. Curious to see if anyone has built one out and what the tint looks like compared to the rest of the valk. I don't think I'll ever paint so I'd like to see what mine will look like.:Dat 340426[/snapback] I got mine today, DAMN these are nice!. I'm working on the non-pigmented kit now, hopefully, I will have pics up by the end of the evening. The cordless Dremel tool I bought has already paid for itself. Quote
DatterBoy Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 Thanks everyone, Cap especially. I'll be using my VF-1A for the conversion which is pretty much... white. So I think I'm gonna be good. I too suck at painting so if I can get a conversion that requires as little painting as possible, I'm down with it. Lookig forward to those pics! :Dat Quote
ruskiiVFaussie Posted October 28, 2005 Posted October 28, 2005 (edited) Haterist... you ROCK. Cap'n that is one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen!!! Edited October 28, 2005 by ruskiiVFaussie Quote
Mechamaniac Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 OK, here goes.... Took me about 3 hours as Haterist said, to trim down the pieces, and do a test fitting. I haven't glued anything together yet, and I have a couple of questions for the Cap'n about this, that and the other thing. All in all, the quality of the kit is AWESOME. One caveat though. For those of you who are looking at your side nippers, and thinking "I can trim that" DON'T. Resin is brittle and even when trimming the sprued pieces off, they snapped off very close to the actual pieces a couple of times. So, be careful. My best friend for the last few hours has been my cordless Dremel. That thing made short ass work of the extra flashing etc. If you don't have one, get one. Anyway, on to the pics.. I haven't put the seats in mine yet, as I will have to follow Haterist's mod to the interiors of the chestplate. But here you go... Quote
DatterBoy Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 (edited) Now that's what I'm talking about! Got my dremel ready to go! Looking forward to the pics in the other modes as well. Tad overexposed... :Dat Edited October 29, 2005 by DatterBoy Quote
aaajin Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 hm..this may be a stupid question but...may I know what is actually a dremel? Quote
Die, Alien Scum! Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 hm..this may be a stupid question but...may I know what is actually a dremel? 340582[/snapback] A rotary tool with interchangeable bits for just about any job; cutting, grinding, polishing, etc. You can find more info here. They're pretty damn handy. Quote
hirohawa Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 Which bit did you use to cut off the extra flash? Quote
Die, Alien Scum! Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 Which bit did you use to cut off the extra flash? 340597[/snapback] I would use an abrasive cut-off wheel to cut the pieces from their sprues (sp?) and remove most of the excess material with a grinding stone bit. I would recommend you finish the job by hand with a file or sandpaper, though. It's pretty easy to remove too much material with the grinding bits, especially with soft stuff like resin. Quote
Wicked Ace Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 What's up with the canopy - looks like it's frosted... 340162[/snapback] The plastic becomes frosted as a result of the mold-release build-up in the mold. It can be polished clear using the same methods used for regular plastic canopies. 340164[/snapback] Would someone please describe how to un-frost the canopy? Thanks. Quote
Mechamaniac Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 (edited) Which bit did you use to cut off the extra flash? 340597[/snapback] Mostly the small sanding band, but also the small pointed stone. I used a cutting wheel to cut out the undercarriage like Haterist did. One other thing..... I drilled out the molded in verniers on the D kit chestplate, and replaced them with the verniers from my Hikky 1A that I am converting. The verniers are glued in, so just scrape off a little bit of the glue on the inside of the chestplate, and pop the verniers out. IMHO they look much better. The verniers on my chestplate were very shallow. If I had thought about this ahead of time, I would have asked the Cap'n to remove those before he cast his chestplate. It is a very easy switch. Edited October 29, 2005 by Mechamaniac Quote
EXO Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 What's up with the canopy - looks like it's frosted... 340162[/snapback] The plastic becomes frosted as a result of the mold-release build-up in the mold. It can be polished clear using the same methods used for regular plastic canopies. 340164[/snapback] Would someone please describe how to un-frost the canopy? Thanks. 340605[/snapback] There's a switch on the panel that turns the air on! Quote
ruskiiVFaussie Posted October 29, 2005 Posted October 29, 2005 haha ... Hikaru's flight suit sleeve as well. Quote
Majestic Posted October 30, 2005 Posted October 30, 2005 Cap, Thanks for the great looking conversion kit. A couple problems/questions here though. 1) There's a missing "antennae/aeleron tab" on the BP8 part, looks like it was snapped off. (see picture) 2) Is the canopy supposed to be so gel-like and rubbery? It warps considerably at the slightest touch... Thanks, -Kurt Quote
promethuem5 Posted October 31, 2005 Posted October 31, 2005 OMG! That's about the worst clear resin cast I've ever seen. Clear resin is tricky and can sometimes not sure right if not mixed exactly right, but that's nuckin' futs.... I've never seen something that crazy...it's usually just tacky or has a slight give. The antenna fin is prolly just from packing....but holy crap, and cockpit is nuts.... Not to bash John, his stuff is awesome, but that's just out of the ordinary. Quote
captain america Posted October 31, 2005 Author Posted October 31, 2005 Cap,Thanks for the great looking conversion kit. A couple problems/questions here though. 1) There's a missing "antennae/aeleron tab" on the BP8 part, looks like it was snapped off. (see picture) 2) Is the canopy supposed to be so gel-like and rubbery? It warps considerably at the slightest touch... Thanks, -Kurt 340881[/snapback] Hi Kurt. Yes, the clear resin has a tendancy to be quite tempermental, and I've had words with Smooth-On over this very issue. You can cook the canopy in the oven at 150f (not higher!) for about 4 hours and let cool. This helps to harden the resin and increase it's physical properties. According to Smooth On, even when the parts come out soft like that, they WILL eventually firm up, but because the material is very fickle when mixing, some batches will simply take longer to harden. Quote
Majestic Posted October 31, 2005 Posted October 31, 2005 Hi Kurt.Yes, the clear resin has a tendancy to be quite tempermental, and I've had words with Smooth-On over this very issue. You can cook the canopy in the oven at 150f (not higher!) for about 4 hours and let cool. This helps to harden the resin and increase it's physical properties. According to Smooth On, even when the parts come out soft like that, they WILL eventually firm up, but because the material is very fickle when mixing, some batches will simply take longer to harden. 341013[/snapback] Thanks, I'll try this method. The canopy is seriously like gummy-canopy right now. I suppose I'll just fix the BP8 with some super-glued sheet styrene cut to shape. Quote
Knight26 Posted October 31, 2005 Posted October 31, 2005 (edited) Hey Cap'n A, do you have any kind of tracking on the shipments, I ask becuase I have yet to recieve mine and you said that it was in the first batch to go out. I really hope that it didn't get lost, especially since I am one of the first on Anasazi's list of people to get a custom made using it. And on an unrelated note: 14 days to Edwards Edited October 31, 2005 by Knight26 Quote
captain america Posted October 31, 2005 Author Posted October 31, 2005 Hi Sean. I'd give it til the end of the week; I've found that there can be quite a bit of fluctuation in how quickly parcels are delivered; even within the same state. The fact that some from the first batch arrived litterally 4 days after I'd mailed them is honestly a fluke; the norm is 10 business days. If by the end of this week you haven't recieved it, just PM me. Quote
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